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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Anyone who has ever clicked on an ad on the Internet, out of simple curiosity at the prospect of "working from home" and making fabulous money, is no doubt all too familiar with the accompanying barrage of subsequent emails when they opt out and decide that the program is a scam.

Once "voluntarily" exposed to the program, the unsuspecting visitors to these sites are latched onto by the purveyors like lampreys in a seemingly serene lake, who cling like leeches hoping to make weary their prey until they succumb. Users then undergo weeks of spam-reporting to their providers until the tide subsides. The fate of those who dare to actually register is not so easily reversed.

So it is with the auto dealerships across America that, naively believing that the "Cash for Clunkers" program would be a boon, have since learned otherwise. Consider the dealerships as the Internet service providers, and their clientele the poor end-users. The only difference is that while the end-users are off and happily driving their new vehicles, the provider is left holding the note.

"Cash for Clunkers" was supposed to be the "get-rich-quick-scheme" of the Democrats and the new administration. Designed to save the environment while stimulating the economy, it at first seemed a huge success, causing consumers to flock to dealers in droves, hoping to seize on the New Deal. It worked for the consumer; not so much for the already-ailing small businesses. (Never mind the negative impact on the environment, as it requires an enormous amount of energy to merely comply with the conditions of the program, destroying those vehicles traded in on the program).

Since its inception, about one half of all dealerships in the New York Metro area have decided that they can no longer bear the cost of the program. One might ask how this could be so, since the program is the brainchild of the Federal Government, with all of the financial backing that that institution enjoys.

That answer is rather simple, since Uncle Sam has belatedly realized that tapping the allegedly bottomless well of the American taxpayer would be political suicide. The only option left to an ostensibly well-meaning bureaucracy is to risk the spectre of the Repo Man, stiffing the people whom they once relied upon to aid in the success of a doomed program.

In the New York area alone, only 2% of the "clunkers" money has been reimbursed to dealers, who bear the cost up front and then have to trust the government for pay back. As a result, about half of those dealerships have abandoned the program, opting out while praying that an increasingly destitute institution will remain solvent and repay the outlay they have expended.

Since the government is having trouble paying on the promise to car dealerships, and considering that Medicare and Social Security are plummeting towards bankruptcy, one has to wonder how anyone would entrust the same government with the fate of their health care. With all of his infomercials since becoming elected, Obama is less of a president and more of an annoying pop-up advertisement, and he should be clicked into the junk bin and reported as spam.